Chalmers Automobile

The Chalmers Motor Car Company was an American automobile manufacturer that was established from 1908 to 1923 in Detroit ( Michigan).

History

Chalmers came out of the Thomas - Detroit Company. 1908 bought Hugh Chalmers, the then Vice President of NCR Corporation, this company and renamed it to Chalmers - Detroit Motor Car Company. In the same year the first cars under the name Chalmers - Detroit only reprints of the earlier Thomas - Detroit appeared, basically. The cars were popular with the then notables and found themselves in the garages of the families Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, etc. end of 1910, named his company in Chalmers Chalmers Motor Car Company and the cars were called to the future Chalmers. The production had risen to about 20,000 copies a year. A Chalmers also won the Glidden Tour of 1910, the most important reliability testing this time in the United States for motor vehicles.

In the wake of the First World War and the subsequent economic recession, sales figures fell sharply. 1921 Chalmers leased a portion of its business premises on the Maxwell Motor Company, in 1922 came the merger. Maxwell bought the building and land from Chalmers for $ 1,987,000 and assumed the liabilities of the company. The new man at the helm of Maxwell -Chalmers was Walter P. Chrysler. The end of 1923 Chalmers had to cease production, a year later Maxwell. 1924 appeared the first Chrysler.

Models

With its 2921 mm wheelbase and 34 "wheels, Chalmers were then very expensive. The 30 and the 30 Touring Roadster cost $ 1,500. In comparison, Black for 375 USD was to get, the Brush Runabout for 485 USD, the Western Gale Model A for 500 USD and the Oldsmobile Curved Dash mass produced for 650 USD. In contrast, the Cole 30 cost $ 1500 and $ 1600 Oakland 40. The Chalmers 30 coupe for $ 2,400 was priced the Enger 40 closer to $ 2,000, while the 40 and the 40 Touring Roadster for 2750 and 40 torpedo for $ 3,000 were still cheaper than Americans lowest priced model for $ 4,250 ( the most expensive cost 5,250 USD).

Sports sponsorship

The company also praised the Chalmers Award in professional baseball.

Source

• Kimes, Beverly Ray & Clark jr. Henry Austin: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942, Krause Publications, Iola WI (1985 ), ISBN 0-87341-045-9